m review — 2nd annual contest
M Review 2nd Annual Writing Contest
Short Fiction — Creative Non–Fiction — Poetry
With the continued support of Professor Meg Roland and the Marylhurst University English Literature & Writing Department,
The staff of M Review and Marylhurst University would like to offer a 'world of thank you's' to Natalie Serber, Kathy O'Shaughnessy, and Paulann Petersen for volunteering their time, energy, and undaunting enthusiasm in judging this year's M Review Writing Contest.
Short Fiction
Green Streets by Jocelyn McDaniel — First Place
"I watched her thick hands twist the necks of the bags, her scared fingers taping the knots. I couldn't cry. I was too old for that now, so I held out my hand and she passed the sacks off to me..." (excerpt).
—"Green Streets" shows the instincts of a true writer. The author's eye for the striking and vivid detail, slightly outside the central drama, keeps the story from drifting into sentimental territory. The young narrator's voice is unwavering, clear and precise, as she recounts the horrific story of her sister Ana in a Brazilian village. We readers are lucky to be guided by her vision to the exactly right gesture near the close of the story. (Natalie Serber, judge)
Jocelyn McDaniel of Cedar City, Utah was raised in New Mexico and spent a year in Brazil. Her experiences there have shaped much of her writing. She is currently working on a collection of short stories set in Brazil.
Sheets by Gina Colantino — Finalist
"As her head slid back and forth against the pillowcase, she mentally inventoried the fridge, trying to remember its contents. The only thing that came to mind was an empty case of Iron City and possibly a small container of half and half..." (excerpt).
—"Sheets" gives us a character that feels real to the touch while providing a scene that is as much a home as a setting. There is a dynamic to the relationships explored that is strong and feels genuine. An attention to detail keeps us following the direction that the author leads us in while shades of description ground us in her characters. You will want to read it twice. (Zac Henkin, staff)
Gina Colantino currently resides in Portland, Oregon and is a student at Marylhurst University.
Sticks and Stones by Tina M. Ontiveros — Finalist
"How his poetry filled my life. My tidy, cold, and empty apartment was transformed. Now it was our home. Now it was warm. It was full of color and music..." (excerpt).
—"Sticks and Stones" originally personifies "words" and "the novel" in order to show the profound and yet sometimes disturbing affect that they can have on the reader, while also showing the connection between language and the complexity of emotion. (Brianna Newby, staff)
Tina M. Ontiveros of The Dalles, Oregon is an English literature major in my junior year at Marylhurst University. I attend full time classes and I live in The Dalles with my husband Ronnie, my son Sol, and my daughter, Lily.
SHORT FICTION JUDGE: Natalie Serber
Natalie Serber received her MFA from Warren Wilson College in 2005. Her work has appeared in Inkwell Magazine, The Bellingham Review, Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, the collection, "Airfare: Stories, Poems and Essays on Flight," and is forthcoming in Clackamas Literary Review. She has been short listed for "Best American Stories of 2005," and is the recipient of the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction and the John Steinbeck Award for Fiction. Natalie is currently working on her novel, "Just be Glad I'm Your Mother." She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Creative Non–Fiction
Sí por Cuba: Dr. Cabrera's Choice by Helen Crowley Cheek — First Place
"'I am a truthful man from the land of the palm trees. Before dying I want to share these poems of my soul...'" (excerpt).
—In an understated style, but with a trained eye devoid of pity, Helen Crowley Cheek puts life in present day Cuba under the microscope. A family of medical missionaries discover, as we do, that even in a world of failed idealism, where neighbors inform on each other and sick children go without antibiotics, one man's stubborn resiliency crosses seemingly impossible borders. (Kathy O'Shaughnessy, judge)
Helen Crowley Cheek is a Marylhurst Alumni (1977). Before attending Marylhurst she studied at Holy Names College and Gonzaga University. She is the former Director of the Metropolitan Human Rights Commission in Portland, Oregon. Her essays been published in The Sun and On Point: The Journal of Army History.
Obsessive–Compulsive by Shura Young — Finalist
"I handed him one, two, then three towels he requested to dry himself. As he dried his feet, layers of dead skin fell off onto the mat. The tub was crusted thick with various shades of scum" (excerpt).
—A painter is confronted with a new lover's secret — he hates to get wet or bathe. Devising an ingenious and artistic solution to his problem, she soon is compelled to cope with her own insecurities. This quirky and offbeat tale asks us to question our own obsessions, whether they be of sex, love, art, or hygiene. (Kathy O'Shaughnessy, judge)
Shura Young of Portland, Oregon. "I have done artwork and writing all my life, beginning a journal at age 13. I earned my income as an artist, artists' model, commercial artist, and art teacher. At age 56, I left a 23–year emotionally abusive and controlling relationship similar to what I'd been through in childhood. I currently am writing about emotional abuse and my life experiences."
Tschilper by Sonja Herbert — Finalist
"...in this case I thought we should go hungry. We shouldn't make a meal out of a friend" (excerpt)
—A young girl in post World War II Germany learns a lesson about compassion and the lengths to which her parents will go to feed the family. The convincing voice of the seven year–old narrator is equally at home whether mimicking the sounds of baby chicks or the exasperated orders of a pragmatic mother in this story, which evokes the drama of day–to–day survival. (Kathy O'Shaughnessy, judge)
Sonja Herbert of Hillsboro, Oregon wrote a biographical novel about her mother hiding in a circus during the Holocaust, which is now looking for presentation. She is also the author of several award-winning published stories. This story is part of her almost finished memoir.
CREATIVE NON–FICTION JUDGE: Kathy O'Shaughnessy
Kathy O'Shaughnessy has been teaching creative writing, both non-fiction and fiction, at Portland Community College for 17 years. She has a M.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire (1974) and a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1986). She has published in The Greensboro Review and has an essay on Toni Morrison in "Critical Essays on Toni Morrison," ed. Nellie Y. McKay. In the past two years her creative energies have found a new outlet in quilting; she's finished 14.
Poetry
Must All Things by Dan Raphael — First Place
"I take anti-dream pills before bed and shower every morning,
drying off with the news" (excerpt)
—"Must All Things" is a jazzy, surreal, darkly comic excursion through the sensibilities of a speaker who tells us, "I only wear glasses when I sleep," whose door "is locked from the outside," who meditates inside a spacious refrigerator. Swiftly paced, brimming with unpredictable, wild moves, this poem does indeed "electrify the neighborhood." (Paulann Petersen, judge)
Portland poet, Dan Raphael has performed his work thoughout the Northwest, including Wordstock, Bumbershoot, Powell's Books, Walla Walla Poetry Party and the Burning Word. His most recent books are "When a Flying City Falls" and "Showing Light a Good Time." Current poems appear in Clackamas Literary Review, Pemmicna, Urvox, Semantikon and Red Sky Morning. During the day, Dan works at the Lake Oswego DMV.
Inheritance by Mark Thalman — Finalist
"In Grandfather's shop, I search for a pair of gloves,
but none seem to match" (excerpt)
—In twelve lines of beautifully weighted imagery, "Inheritance" offers an understated, moving portrait of the speaker's grandfather — "a portrait conveyed through old work gloves as rigid and expressive as sculpture." The poem's last gesture is a fine, subtle evocation of the connection between this grandchild and grandfather. (Paulann Petersen, judge)
Mark Thalman of Forest Grove, Oregon. "My poetry has been widely published over the last three decades. I received my MFA from the University of Oregon and have been teaching English in the public schools for 24 years."
Triassic by Valerie Watrous — Finalist
"We seek the lost as if it were new — in labs,
bits of metal buried under dirt and time" (excerpt)
—With deft use of musical devices, "Triassic" takes its readers on an atavistic journey. Beginning with a musing about a domestic cat, it artfully lures us back in time to imagine ourselves in a night "where cats are again kin," where we are one of the clan of hunters, feared by "...the warm-blooded world/ all whiskered, tiny, skittering around..." (Paulann Petersen, judge)
Valerie Watrous of Portland, Oregon, is a senior at the University of Portland. She is a double major in English and History. Her favorite poets include C. K. Williams, Louise Glück, and Mary Oliver.
Honorable Mention in Poetry
As Friends by Melanie Faith of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
Cloud Pond by Dan Raphael of Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Long Past Midnight by Patricia Wellingham—Jones of Tehama, California.
McKenzie River by Mark Thalman of Forest Grove, Oregon.
POETRY JUDGE: Paulann Petersen
Paulann Petersen's work has appeared in Poetry, The New Republic, Prairie Schooner, Willow Springs, Calyx, and the Internet's Poetry Daily. A collection of her poems, "The Wild Awake," was published by Confluence Press in 2002; Quiet Lion Press published "Blood-Silk," a volume of her poems about Turkey, in 2004; and a third collection, "A Bride of Narrow Escape" is forthcoming from Cloudbank Books in 2006. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, she serves on the board of Friends of William Stafford, organizing the January Stafford Birthday Events.
